Panasonic To Start Offshoring Smartphone Production, Re-Enter International Market

Japanese tech giant Panasonic is preparing to shift its production of Smartphones to offshore manufacturers according to a report by Nikkei. The move is expected to happen by this summer with the company hoping to re-enter international markets over the coming fiscal year.

Currently half of the company’s cellphones are being made domestically but the company hopes that by shifting more work to China and Malaysia they can cut costs and become more competitive against the likes of Samsung, HTC and Motorola.

The rumor comes just after the company announced its worst ever loss of nearly $9.7 billion. The company has appointed Kazuhiro Tsuga to lead the company during a company’wide turnaround which faces stiff competition from Taiwan and Korea.

Panasonic believes it can turn an expanded profit margin in the smartphone market by capitalizing on outsourced production. The company hopes to triple sales from 5 million units to 15 million units by 2016. While the company does most of its business in Japan it hopes to score international sales after exiting the international Smartphone market in 2005.

Panasonic will lead its strategy in Japan and Europe with the release of the Panasonic Eluga, a smartphone that is just 0.3-inches thin while both waterproof and dustproof. The Eluga also includes a 4.3-inch 430×960 AMOLED display which is powered by a  dual-core 1GHz TI OMAP processor. Following that release will be a device with a Snapdragon S4 with a 720p display.

For now we’ll need to stay tuned for more information regarding potential international releases as that information is made available.